Whew...

I'm still here.  I'm sure I'm losing readers because of the drag in my blog posts lately.  To say life has been busy is an understatement. Here is a little bit of what we've been up to which would explain my absence from the blog world.

First off, I've decided to take a new job.  This new opportunity just kind of fell at my feet unexpectedly so it was kind of a tough decision, but I'm really really excited about it.  I had a professor from graduate school contact me about a month ago to ask if I was interested in a new job because she had a great lead.  I inquired about it, but after her response, I just decided not to pursue the opportunity any further because I assumed it would be a pay cut and we couldn't really take that right now, and it was totally a different setting than what I'm doing now.  A few weeks later, she messaged me again and said "If you're at all interested, just go take a look."  So I did, and of course I loved everything about it when I got there.  I decided to interview and fortunately the next week I received the offer.

Ben and I went back and forth in deciding whether I should take it or not.  You see, we currently are renting our house and the owners are wanting to put it on the market this spring.  Though it's a great house, great location, and we've loved living here, we really have no desire to buy it, so that means we've got to figure out what we are doing/where we are going.  This new job also meant I would have to find Mary Hyatt a new day care and it's a little less flexible than my current job.  However, the benefits far outweigh those couple cons.  With this new opportunity I won't spend two hours driving to and from work everyday (with a screaming baby in the back causing me great anxiety), I'll get a week off at Christmas, Spring Break, and Fourth of July as well as days off for all of the other little school holidays, the pay is close to what I'm making now, the facility and the staff  are both fabulous, and I'll be working with preschoolers which I absolutely loved during some of my clinical internships. It was pretty much a no brainer after we wrote all of that down.  I knew I had to take it and I just feel like it was really meant to be.

It was super hard telling my current employer and team. I cried for the first three days after telling them.  I have loved working with all of them and love the facility, but I never imagined it would be this difficult wiyj a baby to be so far from home.  I just knew deep down in my heart that this was the best thing for me and for my family so I knew it had to be done, and fortunately most everyone was totally understanding.

So, I've got three weeks left before I start the new job.  Everything is falling in to place perfectly EXCEPT finding a day care.  It has been out of control trying to find one.  I have seriously called over 20 places and all either have 1-2 year waits or the tuition is OUTRAGEOUS.  I have found 2 places without a waiting list that I'm going to visit this week (but then I wonder, well why don't you have a list if all the others do) and I will probably have to put her in one of those at least until I can get into another. Prayers would be greatly appreciated that this will all fall in to place.  I feel confident that it will, it's just a little stressful and scary being patient.

On another note, this past week I've been MIA because Mary Hyatt has been sick AGAIN.  Imagine that.  At her 6 month appointment we found out she had another ear infection so we had her on an antibiotic.  Two days after finishing the antibiotic she spiked a really high fever. (Keep in mind, she has never ran a fever with any of her ear infections.) That day, my cell phone totally crashed and wouldn't even turn on.  I went to get a new one and they were out of stock so I had to wait for it to ship in 2 days. Of course Ben was out of town for all of this and I was in Decatur.  The next morning, since I had no phone and both of my parents were at work, I had to drive around town and pop in different places to make phone calls to the pediatrician, Ben, my work etc.  I ended up going and getting Ben's mom out of a workshop at school and asked to borrow her phone for the day.  By then Mary Hyatt's fever was up to 103.6, so I ended up taking her to a walk in clinic and they instantly suggested I take her to the ER to have tests run since the fever was so high and she had just completed two rounds of antibiotics.  So off to Huntsville I went.  We spent the entire day at the ER and left with nothing except "It must be a virus, just watch her."  Her fever stayed up and of course she wasn't sleeping at all. (Not to mention I had just turned in my notice at work and am not allowed to miss a day or else you forfeit PTO payout and are put on a no rehire list.)  Ben's parents so graciously offered to take off a half day to stay home with MH on Friday while I went to work. Friday morning her temperature was still above 103 and she wasn't eating.

Luckily, her fever went down Friday night and never went back up, and Ben came home for the weekend.  We were all really hopeful that the worst was over. WRONG.  All day Saturday she was so fussy and wasn't being herself at all and she still wouldn't eat.  By Saturday evening she was screaming crying as if she was in pain and NOTHING would soothe her.  That was a long rough night that I spent sleeping with MH on my chest in Ben's parents recliner.  Sunday morning we got up and decided we needed to head back to the doctor.  So we packed up our stuff and headed back towards Birmingham to the after hours clinic. Come to find out, she has ANOTHER ear infection and the doctor said it looked horrible.  So, this is our third ear infection in three weeks and we had just finished two antibiotic rounds.  Luckily, we have an appointment with the ENT this week and I'm just hoping and praying he says it's time for tubes.  I'll be super anxious and nervous about her being put to sleep at such a young age, but honestly the last couple months have been so exhausting for all of us and it is totally heartbreaking to see our sweet girl in pain and not being able to do anything about it. We feel like every time we turn around she's got an ear infection and we'll do anything to stop this from happening.  Not to mention I know its not good for her speech development with all of these ear infections and I know its not good for her to be on antibiotics constantly.

Whew...Is anybody still reading?

So, all in all, those two events have totally been occupying my mind and time. For all of you prayer warriors out there, we would greatly appreciate prayers for me and Mary Hyatt (and Ben) during this transition to a new job/daycare, prayers that MH will get better and if we do go ahead with the tubes that everything will go smoothly, prayers for wisdom and guidance for Ben and I as we are forced to make decisions about moving etc., prayers that we will find a day care that Ben and I will feel comfortable and confident with, and just prayers of peace and comfort because in the midst of all this change (not to mention my cars lease is up this March so we have to make a decision there too) I can sometimes get overwhelmed and anxious over it all because I hate making decisions and am not a fan of change...though I know change can be good and I know God has a perfect plan for us and he already knows what we will do.

Ok, thats it.  I promise to post again soon with pictures and something a little more fun and entertaining! Hope everyone is having a great week!